Expectation always ends up ending bad. The person with the expectations ends up being disappointed and the other ends up feeling inferior. Leaders with expectation end up getting burnt out and burning bridges with everyone around them. They end up not being very good leaders. Expectation ends up becoming the burdens, like those in Matthew 23, that leaders heap onto people’s shoulders and never lift a finger to help them. I don’t see how expectation can every be healthy. Yet we all seem to default to it.
One thing I have learned through friends, is that encouraging goes a long way. I especially learn this from my in-laws. They have a way with words and about making people feel good about themselves which only serves to empower them more to do better. You never feel like you are letting them down, or not meeting up to their expectations.
I wonder if instead of heaping expectation on people for what they aren’t doing or could be doing, we switch to rather getting excited with people about the what they have the potential to do. Moving from expectation to excitement. I’ll bet the response would be more positive. I’ll bet we would learn more respect. I’ll be the people who are being encouraged will actually make more of their potential than they would have if they just had pressure on them to perform. Get excited with people. I need to stop heaping my ideals of who someone should be or how they should live and start encouraging them and getting excited with them for where they could go.